The present invention is directed to a medical installation having an imaging system and a therapy field transmitter for treating a medical pathology, such as an installation for treating a bone fracture with focused acoustic waves.
A treatment installation disclosed in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/885,749, U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,143, filed May 19, 1992, entitled "Apparatus for Treating Bone Pathologies with Acoustic Energy," (Manfred Rattner), assigned to the same assignee as the present application, having an imaging system for the localization of a region to be treated, for example, a bone pathology such as fracture. The imaging system can be an ultrasound or x-ray locating system and is activated so that an image of the fracture is produced on a monitor. The fracture and a therapy field transmitter that transmits focused acoustic waves for the treatment are brought into positions relative to one another under visual control so that the acoustic waves are focused at the fracture. This ensues in a simple way when the imaging system has a fixed reference to the focus of the therapy field transmitter and when an indicator on the monitor identifies the focus of the acoustic waves. Since the imaging system comprises an image memory, the imaging field transmitter of the imaging system can be deactivated after the positioning has been carried out. The region to be treated continues to be displayed on the monitor by reading out the signals of the image memory.
It is known to place a mark (indicator) in the image of the monitor with a mouse or a light pen, this mark identifying the region to be treated, for example a location of the fracture. Dependent on this mark, the therapy field transmitter that is provided for the treatment is aligned such via a corresponding control unit that the acoustic waves are focused onto this location. The course of the fracture line of the fracture can also be traced on the picture screen of the monitor with a light pen, so that the drive of the therapy field transmitter provided for the treatment as well as the alignment thereof relative to the fracture line and the treatment thereof can automatically take place in sequence.